
Mid Ohio Food Collective Innovates with Amazon Style Food Lockers
- foodfightadmin
- November 6, 2023
- Find Food, Food Bank Support, Hunger In America
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In a creative move to enhance food accessibility, the Mid – Ohio Food Collective has launched a set of Amazon style food lockers at one of its distribution outlets. This innovative approach allows clients to order food online and pick it up anytime, addressing the challenge of pantry availability in the region.
Since their inauguration on October 10, their 72 lockers have seen constant use. Clients select their food through Feeding America’s Order Ahead software, an innovation co – developed by Mid – Ohio, and retrieve their orders within 24 to 48 hours using a unique PIN.
Matt Habash, President and CEO of Mid – Ohio, highlights the potential impact of these lockers, particularly in rural communities within their 20-county service area. The expansion plan includes placing lockers in libraries, transportation hubs, and other public spaces.
The operational model is efficient: the same drivers delivering to the food bank’s daycare partners restock the lockers first. Funded by an investment from Humana Healthy Horizons, the project’s cost, including additional frozen lockers, is estimated at around $175,000.
This concept, still new in the food banking sector, has shown its versatility in different settings. Houston Food Bank and Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana have already implemented similar systems in schools and hospitals, respectively. Educational institutions, like Bunker Hill Community College and the University of Pittsburgh, have also adopted food locker systems, enhancing food access for students.
However, integrating these lockers into the existing system presents challenges, particularly in tracking customer activity. Mid – Ohio is working on streamlining the notification process for clients and improving connectivity between different software platforms. Habash expresses a commitment to sharing insights from this process with other food banks facing similar issues.
Complementing this initiative, Mid – Ohio has been developing a series of Mid – Ohio Markets since 2019. These markets, designed to emulate a grocery store experience, also offer extended hours and additional services like healthcare and job training. The goal is to destigmatize the process of receiving charitable food while providing a more comprehensive support system.
While Mid – Ohio operates nearly 700 traditional pantries, the limited hours in some areas create accessibility gaps. The combination of Mid – Ohio Markets and the new locker system aims to bridge these gaps, ensuring that all individuals have access to food when and where they need it. “The idea is to use the Market strategy first,” Habash said. “And if that still doesn’t work for somebody, then we’re going to go to the locker system.”